cat : bag :: dish : ?

[fflo]

That is, if one has some dish, as in "dish the dirt," that one has been heretofore mum about, and one shares it, that's letting the cat out of the bag (as the expression goes), or, in parallel metaphor, letting/getting the dish out of the what? the cabinet? the oven? I guess if we're dishing dirt as in serving portions of it up to people, the cabinet might be the answer. But if it's been baking, it could be dish (or a dish) just out of the oven---a dish heretofore uncovered (untold) OR covered (up), depending how you look at it, so covered dish or uncovered dish, maybe in some funny 9"-by-13" casserole carrying basket... ? Fresh hot dish, sufficiently baked or at least out of the oven now, so there for diners, ready or not?

I dunno---I think maybe the serving up of portions in clean dishes out of the hutch works better. Have an opinion?

[Poll #591635]

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

When you dish the dirt on someone, the dirt is the dirty secret or the dirty laundry. The dirt is the secret, no the dish, and so the dirt is analogous to the cat. I proposed cat:bag::dirt:dish as my answer, but that's not exactly right. When you dish up a whole mess of grub, you scoop the nameless food out of a serving dish onto a plate or into a bowl, right? I guess the verb to dish does imply the existence of a serving dish noun, though.

Why do I feel the desire to expound on this at such length? I don't know, but if you feel that ranting excessively on figures of speech might indicate a character flaw to someone who has power over me, then you've got the dirt on me, and might want to dish the dirt to that person in power if you were of a malevolent mind.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I would think that the dish refers to the food being served, and not the actual dish that sits in the cupboard in a stack. Therefore, you would probably let the dish out of a pyrex casserole or perhaps some corningware.